The Ottawa Senators are set to pick 21st overall in the first round of the NHL Draft this Friday in Los Angeles. After a 2024 draft class where they leaned into size and physicality, many expect them to stick with that approach, especially with the Florida Panthers winning back-to-back Stanley Cups the way they just did. The Panthers have a skilled roster, uniquely bolstered by size and toughness.
It's literally a copy cats league right now.
But true skill is a lot harder to find than size, and one player who might be available when the Senators step up to the podium is Cullen Potter, a skilled forward who’s one of the best skaters available in the draft.
After putting up 46 points in 54 games with the U.S. National Team Development Program’s U17 squad, he jumped to the NCAA a year early last season. Playing as a 17-year-old freshman, Potter scored 13 goals in 35 games, which is almost unheard of for a player his age.
Potter has serious wheels with and without the puck. He has the kind of speed that tends to get opposing defensemen on their heels, backing up faster and deeper than they’d like so they don’t get burned wide. That often gives Potter the room he needs to claim the blue line and make them pay with his puck skill and quick release.
However, at 5-foot-10, 172 pounds, Potter isn’t the biggest guy, which can affect his ability to win or engage in puck battles. So the league’s be-more-like-the-Florida-Panthers trend may be working against him in the rankings, as it may with Calgary Hitmen forward Ben Kindel, whom we profiled earlier.
Potential First-Round Draft Targets For The Ottawa Senators: Maybe Another Calgary Hitman? Leading up to the 2025 NHL Draft, we’ll examine some of the young players that the draft experts think might be available to the Ottawa Senators when they step up to the podium to make the evening’s 21st overall selection.
Scouts have also suggested that Potter’s two-way game needs some work, but that’s true of most 18-year-olds. What you got away with in your draft year won’t fly in the NHL. But adding a little more emphasis on defence is a hell of a lot more teachable than speed and skill.
So TSN’s Craig Button has him ranked at #50, though his opinion on the player is a major outlier. Almost everyone has him going in the top 30. The Hockey News’ Tony Ferrari even has him going as high as #10.
Ferrari: “Potter is a superb transition presence, moving the puck up ice with excellent crossovers and puck handling as he weaves through traffic. His processing of what is happening on the ice when the puck is on his stick is ahead of most players at his age, and he can exploit passing and shooting lanes with precision. There may not be a player in this draft class who has been more snake-bitten by his teammates than Cullen Potter. From pucks bouncing off their sticks or being shot wide when they have an awning cage, these kinds of things won’t happen forever, and Potter will be the beneficiary.”-
His linemates didn't finish enough? Now that’s the kind of info that can turn a player into a fine sleeper pick. From a consensus standpoint, there’s a good chance he’s still on the board when Steve Staios announces Ottawa’s pick.
Speed and skill are the rarest of commodities and will always be intriguing, no matter what the frame looks like. Ask the Montreal Canadiens if they’re interested in trading Cole Caufield or Lane Hutson right now. Even with all the bigs around him, five-foot-nine Brad Marchand was unreal for the Panthers in the playoffs. Those players are all smaller than Potter.
Potter had 8 points in 7 games at the World-U18 Championships. He had 8 points in 9 games for the US-NTDP U18s and then 13 goals and 22 points in 35 games for Arizona State.
He also has excellent hockey bloodlines. His mom is Jenny Schmidgall-Potter, former Team USA captain who played in 10 World Championships and four Olympic Games over her international career.
If Cullen is still on the board when the Senators make their pick at 21, he could give Ottawa something they’re missing in their prospect pipeline: a fast, creative forward who can make plays at high speed. Big players are nice, but if their skill isn’t elite at the amateur level, it’s not likely to improve in the NHL. If they are highly skilled, then they’re a unicorn and almost always taken before the 21st selection.
There’s always an element of hope and luck at 21, but if you play your cards right, skill and speed are always worth betting on. It may run contrary to the Senators' draft philosophy, but sometimes good things do come in smaller packages.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
(Banner image credit: Michael Augello, The Hockey News)
More Sens Headlines at The Hockey News:
Would Kings Defenceman Jordan Spence Be A Fit With The Senators?
Still No Deal In Sight For Ottawa Senators Pending UFA Claude Giroux
Should The Senators Have Surrendered This Year's First-Round Draft Pick Instead?
Senators Bring Back First-Rounder For Second Tour Of Duty
Rewriting The Draft: A Decade Of First-Round 'What-Ifs' for the Senators
Potential First-Round Draft Targets For The Ottawa Senators: Defenceman Blake Fiddler